


I Know You'll Be There

by Welfycat



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-08
Updated: 2011-02-08
Packaged: 2017-10-15 12:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/160870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welfycat/pseuds/Welfycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David Parrish had long ago decided that the worst part of being held captive was worrying about the rest of the team. Being in love with Evan Lorne had suddenly amplified that ten-fold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Know You'll Be There

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Scifiland 'Love, Actually' Challenge.  
> Warnings: Brief captivity

David Parrish got up and paced across the cell for what must have been the tenth time in as many minutes. He'd only awoken a short time ago, and was displeased to discover that he was without his radio, his watch, his tac vest, and any weapons at all. Even though he was barely qualified to carry a side-arm, it was comforting to feel it strapped to his thigh when they went through the 'gate.

At least he was still in his uniform, the jacket still zipped up and his boots still tied just the way he'd tied them that morning. There was nothing worse about waking up in an off-world jail cell in clothes that weren't his, or without clothing at all. And, whenever it happened, Colonel Sheppard would look at Major Evan Lorne with the corner of his mouth twitching and remind them that it only ever happened to the Major's team. Of course, that was only after everyone had been safely recovered without injury or trauma. Colonel Sheppard was just as fierce as Evan was about protecting every member of the Atlantis expedition; the knowledge that they would never leave someone behind, never stop looking, was all that made it possible for most of them to even step through the 'gate.

David looked around the cell again; four walls, a packed dirt floor, a cement ceiling that was just out of reach of his fingertips. There was a small window set into the wall, thick glass that had bars on the outside, letting a small amount of light stream through. He'd already tried pounding against the glass, even though he wouldn't have been able to fit through the window. The glass hadn't broken, and David figured he'd try again when his hands weren't red and slightly sore. The door presented a similar obstacle, made of thick beams of wood and apparently barred from the outside, as there was no lock to pick and the door wasn't budging even when he pressed all of his weight against it. He figured that would at least make it easier for his team to get him out as soon as they discovered where he was.

As long as they weren't in cells themselves, all stripped of their weapons and radios. David made himself stop thinking there, stop wondering if whoever was holding him captive had the rest of the team, or if they were hurting them, or separating them. David got up and banged on the window again, channeling his fear and frustration into something that was marginally useful. Even if he couldn't escape himself, he could at least try to alert them to where he was.

When his hands were throbbing again, he stopped and slumped down against the wall under the window and cradled his hands to his chest. After a minute he made himself get up and sit where he could see both the window and the door so he couldn't be caught off guard. Over the past few months, even more so than when Evan had just formed the team, Evan had been teaching him all sorts of things that David had never had reason to learn when he was doing his degrees in botany. Military strategy, combat techniques, wilderness survival, and a whole host of things that David didn't even know how to classify.

One evening, a few weeks after they'd started dating, Evan was being rougher in the gym than he had been in the past, ruthlessly pinning David to the mats on the floor over and over and holding him there. At first, David had been a little amused by the rough and tumble, but had quickly gotten the idea that Evan was not playing. The amusement had turned into frustration as David tried to squirm free and get Evan off where he was sitting on his chest and using his knees to press David's shoulders to the floor.

"What's with you today?" David had finally snapped when Evan let him up, scooting out of reach while rubbing one of his shoulders indignantly. "I'm never going to be a match for you in this, and you know it."

Evan had sighed and looked away. After a moment, he turned back to David with the most serious expression that David had seen on Evan's face. "Before, you were just my teammate, someone who I taught because it was my job and you were my friend. Now, I need to know that you can defend yourself. I need to know that if I can't be there, that you'll be okay."

And so, while David hadn't really slacked off on practicing hand to hand combat or working in the firing range, he started putting more time into it. And, to his vast surprise, he improved. Not enough that he could actually take anyone other than a few of the other scientists during the civilian hand-to-hand practice, or hit a moving target with any consistency, but enough that Evan clapped his hand on David's shoulder and two days later brought him some plant clippings from one of the planets that David hadn't had the opportunity to visit.

David clenched his hands and pressed his back against the cool wall. Thinking about Evan wasn't helping, because as soon as he called up an image of him in his mind, Evan sitting next to him in the mess hall or grinning after overseeing one of the 'soft science' department meetings, David couldn't help but picture where Evan currently was. And as soon as he did that, memories of the few times that they'd wound up in serious trouble off-world would rise up and he would see Evan's head bloody and Evan not moving, or Evan chained to the wall of some dingy cell. Both he and Evan had agreed that they had to be able to keep cool heads even when one of them was in danger, or they couldn't possibly stay on the same team and date at the same time. So far, it had been working, but David knew that the ache in his chest was never worse than it was when he knew Evan could be in danger and there was nothing he could do about it. He would bet the saplings that had been brought back from P1J-334 that Evan felt the same way.

A dull thud in the hallway pulled David from his worried musings and he got to his feet. He stood next to the doorway, ready to grab whoever came through just like Evan had been practicing with him. He'd never actually successfully pulled off the maneuver before but that was no reason not to try.

The door shuddered a little with what David guessed was the sound of whatever was keeping the door from opening being removed, and it pulled open. Without looking, David threw himself at the first person through the door and brought him to the ground. It was certainly not as elegant as Evan would have done it, and David was taken just as off-balance as the person he'd taken down, but it gave him the opportunity to scramble for any weapons the person might have on him.

"David! David!"

It took the shout for David to stop and look and realize that it was Evan that he had pinned to the ground.

"Evan?" David asked, freezing with his hands still fumbling to pull the weapon from his grasp.

"Yep. You alright?" Evan asked, looking a little ruffled and more than a little concerned.

David didn't answer, he just leaned forward and kissed Evan with everything he had, all the tension and fear suddenly leaving his body and leaving him limp against Evan.

"You sure you're alright?" Evan asked, sounding a little less concerned.

"Yeah. Great. Let's get out of here." David sighed and hoisted himself up off of Evan.

They left the cell and found their teammates, Coughlin and Reed, in the hallway. Reed smacked David on his back, in what David had been led to believe was the marine way of expressing relief and affection and not an attack, and Coughlin grinned and handed David his spare sidearm.

David kept his expression as clear as possible, trying not to wonder if they'd seen him kissing Lorne in a jail cell. Coughlin and Reed knew about their relationship and supported it, but knowing and seeing them make out were entirely different things as far as David was concerned.

They'd just reached the 'gate, and David had decided that they probably hadn't seen the kiss, when Coughlin spoke up. "Nice tackle there, Doc. We're going to have to look out if that's what the Major has been teaching you."

David wound up returning to Atlantis with his face bright red, discovering that it you walked through the 'gate while blushing, you were still blushing when you came out the other side. But, when Evan smiled, his hand casually brushing dirt off David's shoulder, David decided that it was more than worth a little teasing from his teammates if it meant that Evan knew exactly how much he meant to him.


End file.
